Hero dubbed 'Pedo Guy' by Elon Musk tells how slur left him 'dirtied'
British cave hero dubbed ‘Pedo Guy’ by Elon Musk fights the tears as tells how slur left him ‘humiliated, dirtied and ashamed’ and claims billionaire tried to ‘destroy him’ in $190m lawsuit
- Vern Unsworth helped to save Thai children and their football coach this year
- Elon Musk offered to build submarine to save them but Mr Unsworth dismissed it
- Musk branded him a ‘Pedo Guy’ and hired an investigator to dig dirt on him
- Mr Unsworth today said that Musk had set out to destroy him after the incident
A British man who helped save the lives of 12 Thai children and their football coach when they got stuck down a cave said he was left feeling ‘ashamed’ after billionaire Elon Musk branded him a ‘Pedo Guy’.
Vern Unsworth was the first foreign rescuer at the scene in Chiang Rai in Northern Thailand in July.
Musk had offered to build a small submarine to help rescue the Thai cave boys, an offer which Mr Unsworth dismissed. It was after this dismissal that he was branded a ‘Pedo Guy’ by Musk.
This morning, appearing on Good Morning Britain with his lawyer Mark Stevens, Mr Unsworth was close to tears as he told how the ordeal hurt him and how Musk set out to ‘destroy him’.
Elon Musk had offered to build a small submarine to help rescue the Thai cave boys, an offer which Vern Unsworth dismissed
Mr Unsworth had appeared on the show today with her lawyer Mark Stevens following the trial
His lawyer Mr Stevens had worked on a ‘no win no fee retainer’, but presenter Susanna Reid highlighted how the cost of the ordeal had been ‘more than financial’ for the financial broker from St Albans.
Mr Unsworth said: ‘I was humiliated, dirtied, ashamed.
‘He set out to destroy me, physiologically I am a tough guy. Some of this stuff he got out of the private investigators was disgusting.’
Despite his feeling towards Musk, Mr Unsworth said ‘life goes on’ after his team lost the case against the technology entrepreneur.
‘I respected the jury verdict, not that I accepted it but life goes on. They could have called me anything else but that.’
His laywer Mr Stevens added that the jury had misunderstood the law after they had been asked a set of questions.
‘Is it defamatory? Had it been published? Did the tweet refer to Vern? No end of case. The jury took that literally. They said to themselves his name was not in the tweet.
‘If you are identifiable then it’s as good as having your name in the tweet.’
Mr Unsworth said that he didn’t have a presence online and that Musk had said the slur as an insult, and a instant reaction to him dismissing his offer of a submarine.
‘He treated it as an insult, an instant reaction. He went out and researched me before he sent the tweets. There is nothing you could Google that would come up with me, So he Googled Chiang Ri and saw it’s reputation’.
Mr Unsworth – had played a crucial role in the dramatic rescue of 12 boys and their football coach from rising monsoon waters flooding the treacherous complex
The boys are pictured trapped in the cave. The caver reveals that he was subjected to four investigations by Thai police, sparked by the allegation, and that the billionaire’s aides hired a British private investigator who said he could ‘dig dirt’ on him
His lawyer added that Musk then purchased ‘all the power of a billionaire bully’ and hired people to look through his client’s bins to dig up dirt on him.
Despite Musk’s comments, Mr Unsworth said he still keeps in touch with some of the children he rescued.
‘There were never any guarantees we could get them out alive. Britain can be proud of what Brits achieved. Once Rick and John found the children on July 2 everyone was over the moon except us because we realised what the situation was.
‘It was a good feeling. Just for the parents really, they got their children back. They were in isolation for a few days in hospital. We are all good buddies.
‘We are friends basically, we have respect for each other and they understand what happened. ‘
Piers said he was a hero for his work and thanked him for what he had done for the children.
Source: Read Full Article